Ice probe chiller

So I purchased a ice probe for my veg'ing unit. I'm impressed at its cooling capability. There's not a lot of info out their on these . So I wanna give y'all a bit of Info, one thing is, while they do make a controller, you don't need it to run the unit, in the photos on amazon, they don't show a plug, but it does come with one. I haven't been able to see how cold it will make my resivoir but the probe it's self got ice cold,so I would imagine that in an insulated res it should be able to drop the temp pretty low. Anyways here's a photo of it

I had two of them in a 25gal res and what a waste. They create more heat in the room than cooling of water and are also very unreliable. I had to have replacement parts shipped 3 times in just a couple months of use. Any electronic cooling or heating equipment should always use a thermostatic controller as control of everything is key to indoor growing.

Really? That sucks, I mean I just installed it on a 20g(approx.) res last night, I didn't have it on long enough to see any kind of results but like I said I turned it on then held the probe in my hand, and it got surprisingly cold and didn't produce any heat on the outside, well no noticeable heat. were you using their controller? well I hope the one I got works better, cause I HATE having to mail products back.

looks like a peltier element. They work on wine refrigerators...
Its cool science but nothing beats a bigazz compressor.

All chillers will add the amount of heat removed from water, the heat of compression, and the heat the compressor it self to the room unless ducted outside or if water cooled to the disharge water. This must add quite a load in it self, anyone run chillers and does this pose a problem? Thinking of doing a water to water one!

a friend of mine uses an ice probe chiller for a dwc setup in five gallon buckets.. he lines the outside of the buckets with some kind of foil and his ice probe keeps the 5 gallon buckets in the 60's or so from what i remember..
he's never had an issue with his as far as i know, but he's only using on 5 gallons, compared to the 20 i think the op was talking about trying it on..

i would prefer to keep my water chillers outside the room but its easier to just up the AC a few notches and let it rip.

Yes i think that would be best. I live on a lake so should be able to use deep water for cooling. Trenches are the hold back lol.

Got home and she's running at 65 degrees in a 75 degree room. Not bad for a 100$, if I was going to do more than just a few plants, then I would've opted for a traditional 1/4 hp chiller. And yes I'm aware heat doesn't just disappear, but my room is well ventilated and A/C'd so it's fine.

racerboy71 said:

a friend of mine uses an ice probe chiller for a dwc setup in five gallon buckets.. he lines the outside of the buckets with some kind of foil and his ice probe keeps the 5 gallon buckets in the 60's or so from what i remember..
he's never had an issue with his as far as i know, but he's only using on 5 gallons, compared to the 20 i think the op was talking about trying it on..

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Thanks for the reply, so your friend has one on each bucket? Well the probe is definitely working for me in my 20g res so one for each 5g seem like over kill, but I can see doing that if the rooms really hot..

Yeah this thing is pretty cool (knock on wood), you could use this thing to keep drinks cold in a insulated bucket. Plug it into a power converter in your car or whatever lol

Oh and I forgot to mention I'm going to take some foam insulation ( the stuff that comes in a board)and line my res with it.

Got home and she's running at 65 degrees in a 75 degree room. Not bad for a 100$, if I was going to do more than just a few plants, then I would've opted for a traditional 1/4 hp chiller. And yes I'm aware heat doesn't just disappear, but my room is well ventilated and A/C'd so it's fine.​

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I would think your peltier cooler would actually run cooler as there is no heat of compression, just two plates. For smaller systems if reliable maybe but they are very ineffiecient and that is why you dont see them on large systems. Besides WTF I'd lose my job lol. I'm a refer guy lol, pardon the pun.

Nodgman said:

Yeah this thing is pretty cool (knock on wood), you could use this thing to keep drinks cold in a insulated bucket. Plug it into a power converter in your car or whatever lol

Oh and I forgot to mention I'm going to take some foam insulation ( the stuff that comes in a board)and line my res with it.

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Are you still using your ice prob in your 5 gallon? It's been a few years and I wonder if it`s still reliable way to keep the temps down

THanks

What a blast from the past. I almost bought these way back. Thank god I don't do dwc anymore. I hate waste, watts to keep stuff cool. Makes me shake my head now.

I have a stalled project using an Ice Probe., plants died.. Negligence on my part.. Waiting on seeds to restart plants.. I have high hopes that a single IP can cool a 10 gal ice chest, Plus 2 Waterloos.. Here's how I'm using it.. . https://www.rollitup.org/t/the-official-dwc-cooler-club-any-kind-of-cooler-res.366114/post-15154522

My second grow using these coolers, keeping 5 gallon buckets at a steady 65 deg. I just start having problems with one on a bucket thats in 4 weeks of flower, the fan and the light is on but for some reason its now at 75 deg. and dont seem to be getting cold anymore, which is a bummer, i have a extra one but it would be to much to replace now, i would have to remove to scrog nets which is being shared with another plant in flower, if i can go another 4weeks with watching it closely i guest roots will be fine, this is the first time the chiller have gave me problems, looking for any vids on breaking them down for repair, its has to be the thermo cooling element itself since the fan and light still comes on, and the thermostat works its not that many parts,,,but all in all they have worked flawlessly up until now, I only have room to grow 2 buckets at a time so they are convenient